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Hailey officials not swayed by pro-pot vote
Marijuana lawsuit to continue in 5th District Court
5/30/08|The Idaho Mountain Express| by Terry Smith - Express Staff Writer


Hailey city officials will continue with their anti-marijuana lawsuit despite an election earlier this week in which the city's electorate approved three pro-pot initiatives for the second time.

"I have no intention of withdrawing it," City Councilman Don Keirn said Wednesday. "The whole purpose of the lawsuit is to get this in front of the court. We need a declaratory judgment, maybe now more than ever.

"In theory, the judge will say this whole thing is illegal and that's the end of it. I'd like to get it behind us."

Keirn, Mayor Rick Davis and Police Chief Jeff Gunter filed a lawsuit earlier this month in Blaine County 5th District Court seeking a ruling on three marijuana reform initiatives that were approved by the electorate last November.


Police Chief Jeff Gunter
Photo courtesy of The Idaho Mountain Express

"I have no intention of withdrawing it either," Gunter said Thursday. "Just because it passed twice doesn't mean it's not in conflict with state law and we need to have it resolved."

Davis was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

The three initiatives, one to legalize medical use of marijuana, another to legalize industrial hemp and a third to make enforcement of marijuana laws the city's lowest police priority, were first approved in November. They were approved by voters once again on Tuesday.

Marijuana advocate Ryan Davidson, the man who initiated petition drives to get the initiatives on the ballots, said Wednesday that Hailey city officials should follow the will of the electorate.

"If they don't do that, I think they should be recalled," said Davidson, a former Bellevue resident who now lives in Garden City and is chairman of The Liberty Lobby of Idaho.

In Tuesday's election, the medical marijuana initiative passed with a 58 percent positive vote, up from the 53 percent it received last November.

Also passed was the industrial hemp measure, which received 56.5 percent voter approval, up from the 53 percent it received in the first election.

The police priority initiative was approved at 53 percent, up from the 51 percent it received in the first vote.

Defeated for a second time was an initiative to require the city to tax and regulate distribution and use of marijuana. Forty-seven percent of the electorate voted for the initiative on Tuesday, the same percentage that voted for it in November.

"I think this is just a great expression on how people feel on the issues and they're not going to change," Davidson said. "I was right to do it the first time and I was right to do it again. When the people speak on an issue two times like that, it speaks volumes. I don't think there was any question that they knew what they were voting for this time.

"Now it's tough to ignore the mandate from the voters."

But Councilman Keirn doesn't see the vote as a mandate at all, pointing out that less than 20 percent of Hailey's electorate voted in Tuesday's election.

"We don't have a huge mandate there," he said. "You figure all the numbers and it's not that large."

 

Buzzby

I'd like to find out if a majority of the total electorate voted for Councilman Keirn, or only a majority of those who bothered to show up at the polls. If it's the latter, then he, by his own standards, has no business sitting on the council.

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jsknow

Drug prohibition has never worked, from the place of origin to the point of sale there can be up to 17000% markup. People aren’t going to stop dealing when they can get rich selling drugs. We're building 900 new prison beds and hiring 150 more correction officers every two weeks in the USA. We arrest someone on a drug charge every 17 seconds. We jail more people than any nation. We spend $69 billion a year on the drug war. In 1914 when all drugs were legal 1.3% of our population was addicted to drugs, today 1.3% of our population is still addicted to drugs. Over 100,000 people have been killed because of this war on our own citizens. The only way to control drugs is to regulate them and end the profits available to criminals just like ending alcohol prohibition did. No argument justifies devastating society with drug prohibition. Watch the video:
Internet Explorer: Just Say Know to The Drug War
All other browsers: Just Say Know to The Drug War

kcbennie

Legalizing would bring the cost way down. I think that we're all in agreement about that. I wonder if that is part of the reason legalization seems to right be around the corner, but we just can't turn the corner. Maybe the problem the upper brass is trying to figure out is how to leagalize it and still be able to charge the same price for it. Maybe when they figure that out, then it will be legal.

And if ants had balls, maybe they would be called uncles.

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"My friend said 'Man, the weather is really trippy' and I said 'The weather's not trippy. It's just the way that you perceive the weather that is in fact trippy.' And then I though to myself 'I should've just said 'Yeah.''"

- Mitch Hedburg

SuperTorch

Whats so weird is how this elected officials sworn to carry out duties just decide on their own that They will decide if MJ is legal or not and act like the voters didn't give them their authority. Like once in office you don't have to abide by the rules. Its bizarre to me that any official would have a problem with MJ if it passed through the legislature in a official manner. Its like they are saying hey this is special interest at work here and we don't have to obey the legislature. It just blows my mind how petty and personal they take it when MJ is voted in by legal means. I'm pretty sure what they are doing is a criminal act but for sure means to be fired. So Odd.

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I only smoke legal herbs, when I come to these forums and discuss things like smoking and the high one gets I'm referring to the feeling I get from legal herbs and have no information on what others are smokeing or reffering to. I don't smoke marijuana but do enjoy discussing and talking about legal herbs and the high from different legal smoking methods and all my post should be viewed in that light.

 

Buzzby

Marijuana is illegal in the state of Idaho and in the United States of America. Since the city of Hailey is in Idaho and in the USA, its citizens are subject to their laws. The oath that elected officials take requires them to abide by state and federal laws.

It didn't pass through the legislature, which, for a municipality, would be the city council. It was decided by a voter initiative. The city council is concerned about their liability if their police stop enforcing state laws - which they are sworn to uphold.

Again, no legislature is involved. They're simply saying that they can't enforce municipal ordinances that conflict with state and federal laws.

They have a lot more at stake than their personal aversion to marijuana. They're concerned about the legal consequences.

So you think they're breaking the law by obeying the law? In most cases, state and federal laws trump municipal ordinances.

SuperTorch

I wasn't hard fast referring to this particular issue, I just saw the post and wanted to comment on the issue. There are a lot of places that it has passed the legislature(again not in this case) and CITY appointed police officials While they have to uphold state law they also have to uphold city law and in my opinion(not that it matters) those who pay your check is who you should obey. Its complicated true, I think California is taking a big stab at it by trying to pass a bill that specifically states that state law enforcement will not help federal law enforcement in cannabis raids or issues.